Chapter 44: Project

Right after Muelsyse tried to knock the normies a peg and her actions exploding right on her face. Currently, the offender was sitting right next to her with an irate Saria frowning upon them.

With her arms crossed and her shoes tapping on the ground. Saria looked towards Ash and Muelsyse with a glare.

"What in the world were you two doing? Such shameless acts at the lounge of Rhine labs for everyone to see." Saria scowled.

"I-It's not my fault Saria! It's because of this guy with his beastly urges! He was flirting and getting all lovey dovey with his other normie girlfriends!" Muelsyse pointed at Ash's group accusingly.

"Ahem, that is simply untrue. We were having a bond together. And I have a witness, isn't that right Liz?" Ash looked towards the Sarkaz and she reacted slowly, looking up from her book.

"Ah... That's right, she picked a fight." Liz pointed at Muelsyse and she was scandalized. They were ganging up on her and she saw Ash smirk at him like an evil villain after Saria glared daggers at her.

"N-no! Saria! You gotta believe me!" Muelsyse was desperate because the vouivre was leaning towards Ash's side.

After their conversation with him in Kirsten's office. There was simply no way in her head to see him being flirty like Muelsyse described. Right at the hallways no less.

Muelsyse also has a reputation of being a troublemaker. And that backfired for the accused elf.

"Shut up Muelsyse, you are embarrassing Rhine labs. Ash, sorry about her attitude. This elf is quite rambunctious." Saria bowed and made Muelsyse stand, forcing her to bow too.

"No offense taken Saria, I guess she's just a little... Lonely? She yelled out for everyone to hear that people there were sad virgins." He looked at Muelsyse with a pitiful expression and Saria frowned upon her more heavily.

At her shock, Muelsyse couldn't believe that he would be able to turn Saria against her. And when the vouivre was again focusing on her. The abominable man grinned at her, mouthing 'better luck next time.'

Muelsyse went ballistic and Saria hugged her from the back. The elf's mouth spouting venom and curses galore.

"Forgive me Ash! I will take care of her and will make sure her punishment is carried out by me!" Saria took the elf.

"Mark my words! Vengeance will be mine Asmodeus! Revenge will be served cold!" Muelsyse vowed as Ash waved his hand with a smile.

"Bye, I'll be waiting." He snorted and was quite amused by the elf woman. She is most likely the last of her kind. And making her come to him later will bring more chances to research about her.

"Why'd you do that? She's an administrator of Rhine labs you know? That woman can still try and prevent you from getting Rhine labs due to your stunt." Liz didn't let up with her book and was curious.

"Good question Liz. Well, that's for me to know and you to find out. Treat it as a nice little brain teaser, pun intended." He laughed and finished his coffee. Gesturing them to follow him in order to go to their base for now.

"Heh, he's got you there Liz." Shining chuckled, though she did wish that her brain would heal fully so the Sarkaz can experience emotions naturally.

"And where's your shoes Liz?" Margaret looked at her, she was barefoot.

"Ahh... I forgot." Liz blinked and Shining just took a new pair of pumps for her. The Sarkaz was in a wheelchair for a long time. And old habits die hard.

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Arriving at their hotel, Ash and the group went to the reception. "A room please." He slid his card and waited patiently for the receptionist to put them in a room.

"I'm sorry, there's a policy here that a room can't contain more than four guests." She gave her service smile and Ash raised a brow.

"Then get us two rooms. Easy." He tapped on the table. "Sorry, we only have one room left in our establishment."

Ash got annoyed. "Shining, who the hell owns this hotel?" He was in a bad mood and Shining gave him a number.

She collects numbers of high profile people everywhere she goes in case Ash needs it.

"Hey you, this is Asmodeus. How much does your hotel near Rhine labs cost?" They talked a bit and he bought the hotel.

He then looked at the receptionist. "Give me the keys." She immediately scrambled and did not expect him to buy the whole hotel. She just wished that a dismissal mail won't arrive.

"Hah, what kind of hotel doesn't let more than four people get in a room? What is this crap?" Ash huffed and he poured some whiskey in a glass.

"So? Ash, what are we exactly doing here?" Margaret asked, diverting his short fuse that got developed after his trip to Ursus.

"Hah, we're not really taking Rhine labs instantly. It's too big, too many eyes on it. We either take it with the whole country, or slowly." Ash started explaining.

He then took out a file on him and gave them the results of Specter's samples.

After scanning the classified file that they have never seen before. They gasped when the experiments he did got known.

"Specter and Skadi are a massive security risk?" Degenbrecher frowned and knew that they would cause a lot of damage if they succumbed to their seaborne blood.

"So our sudden trip here is about them?" Margaret was already quite apprehensive of the nun. With her being insane and all. Ash the only one keeping the abyssal hunter in line.

But now that Skadi was in the mix. And what happened in Iberia that caused them to be a shadow of their former selves. She was alarmed to the maximum.

"A threat from the depths, this will be complicated. Iberia is too weak for them to stop this once again. Not to mention that no nation will pitch in to help with this." Shining furrowed her brows and brooded.

"Now you know. Specter and Skadi are weapons against them. They know their potential weaknesses. And what kinds are lurking down there. So treating them is really important." Ash sighed and massaged his temples.

"Ohh, you're going to need equipment from Rhine labs..." Shining understood now why he just didn't kill Clooney. It was so they could get the products without having potential problems with Columbia.

Nobody knows that they basically own Kazimierz. But it's still suspicious as hell for them to swoop in and start taking equipment from Rhine labs. Especially when Clooney is a double agent for anyone willing to fork out money.

Columbia has too many factions vying for control over the country. Unlike Kazimierz and Leithanien. Many lives are on the line so they have to be more careful there.

"So we wait for the equipment and then leave?" Shining squinted her eyes. She wanted to be in Paradiso and observe the abyssal hunters herself if they ever were to succumb.

"No, not really. That might be our main goal. But I just got a good idea." He smirked. Making acquaintances is good and all.

But why not profit real well with this and milk it to the maximum? "Hehe~ Guhahaha!" Ash can already imagine the chaos at Rhine labs.

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The next morning, Muelsyse who was rubbing her ass cheeks because Saria whacked her until they became raw. Bending her down like a petulant child and unleashing havoc on her cheeks.

She rubbed her eyes when she saw what was in front of Rhine labs. "Scientists for hire... Unlimited budget works..."

The elf saw a handful of employees in Rhine labs that were interested. Receiving a pamphlet from a Sarkaz. Notably, Shining.

"Yes, just give your resignation letter to control and show them your pamphlet. She will definitely accept it quickly with a smile on her face." Shining explained.

Muelsyse got a bad feeling about it and she immediately used her arts to turn into water. Being a water nymph, she has incredible control with water.

Running, or in her case. Flowing right towards Kirsten's office in a hurry. Her mouth almost dropped from the scene.

"You are going to Paradiso?" Kirsten stared right at a shivering scientist that was scared of her cold eyes.

"Y-yes ma'am." The scientist cursed Shining in his head and thought it was a trick from her and her other colleagues. But Kirsten nodded and there was a smile on her face.

"Don't embarrass Rhine labs, go and help them anyway you can." Kirsten accepted the resignation and Muelsyse ran to her, slamming her hands on the table.

"Kirsten! What in the world are you doing!?" Muelsyse shouted. They were poaching their workers and Control just accepted it without a fight.

"What do you mean?" Kirsten tilted her head and Muelsyse went wide eyed. "N-no... Not you too!? First was Saria, now he has even poisoned your mind!?"

Muelsyse was having a crisis and Kirsten snorted. "Ash has a great cause Muelsyse. And if our employees need to part with us to make it even a second quicker, then so be it."

Kirsten was firm and she nodded sagely. Thinking that Ash would definitely be using the new wave of scientists for a project in line with her dreams. He was not.

"Ahh, I knew it Kirsten. I'm not happy about this, but Ash would definitely make it. He could make his Bio Gentech with limited researchers on his hands. What more if Rhine labs' scientists come to him?" Saria understood why Kirsten was accepting their resignations.

"Ahhh! This is hopeless! He's got you eating on his palms!" Muelsyse pulled her hair and felt like she was about to go crazy.

"Nonsense, now. I do have some important work to do right now." Saria left. Leaving Kirsten with Muelsyse that she thought was up to her usual antics.

Saria travelled to a lab that was reported to have been destroyed by an explosion. "Tch, fools. Don't they know that experiments can go awry? Now their lab is destroyed and dozens of casualties as a result."

The vouivre was annoyed, observing the ruins. She read the report again. Saria might be socially awkward and emotionally blunt. But she wasn't stupid.

There is something fishy going on. The lab was small scale. Not really an industrial one too that makes chemicals that can go boom. At least the type and amount in which could cause the amount of damage she just saw.

Everything above was decimated. But there is a reported basement. So she hefted huge chunks of concrete without any problem and would investigate deeper.

But when she went down, the hall of the basement level was much much larger than what was possible for a small lab.

"This underground level is basically as large as Rhine labs' at first glance... There's definitely something happening here." She furrowed her brows.

It wasn't really her job to go here and investigate. But as defense, she needed to check possible problems that would affect Rhine labs negatively.

And her instincts were right. The underground lab had state of the art equipment that only Rhine labs were making. Albeit, it had a different brand. Most likely to hide the fact the thing came from them.

The place was also really large as she thought. That means there was potentially a lot of shady shit happening there.

"Hah, I need to investigate this further later..." She spent a lot of time trying to find more information. But the surveillance systems were completely busted.

Melted by high temperature flames and explosions based on what she saw. Which is also suspicious. Explosions can be hot, but not to the point it can melt steel.

When she returned to the surface, she heard some splashing waters. It was faint, but there was something.

Saria located it and saw a hole and the moonlight showed something, or someone.

"Oh my god! A child? You! Reach for my hand!" Saria couldn't disturb the rubble or it might just cause a cave in and crush the dirty blonde haired kid.

The little girl didn't react though, just staring upwards blankly with dead fish eyes while she lay down there.

"Hey! Do you want to live? Or are you just going to stay down there and die? If you want to live, stand up and take my hand. Help yourself first." Saria shouted.

Her words weren't for kids and thin skinned people. But the child stirred.

Slowly but surely, Saria watched the kid stand up. And with a burst of strength, she looked at her in the eye with determination and jumped for Saria's hand.

"Hey, what happened?" Saria was about to ask questions, but the girl slumped immediately when she got into her arms and went unconscious.

"Shit, she's in bad condition." As a medic, Saria assessed the child's body and she wasn't doing well.

So she immediately loaded her into her buggy and drove back to Rhine labs in order to stabilize the kid.

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Thank you for reading everyone, ciao.